Week 1
University of Aberdeen course, The Scottish Diaspora. Taught by Dr. Marjory Harper.
Diaspora: ( di-az-por-a )
The Scottish Diaspora is a term used to describe both: 1. the Scottish people and their descendants who left Scotland, and 2. the act of leaving (emigration) of the Scottish people. The Scottish Diaspora can be thought of as a series of high emigration time periods. For example, the highland clearances diaspora event was when thousands of families were forced off their land to relocate in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. While Leslies were not impacted to a great degree by such an event as the clearances, there were religious and economic events that led to Leslies leaving Scotland. What makes the term diaspora unique to some extent is that the people who emigrated and their descendants maintain some connection to their Scottish heritage and history. The people of the Scottish diaspora, even after many generations, regard Scotland as their “homeland”. The recent emergence of DNA testing has fueled the awareness of many people’s connection to their Scottish ancestry.
Here is a clip from a posting made by Dr. Harper during the first week of class:
” Inverurie is at the centre of an area that saw a steady outflow of people as a result of chain migration and networking. Many were farmers and farm servants but some came from more affluent backgrounds. Later in the course we’ll look at the Leslies of Warthill and their neighbours at Logie, Manar and Leith Hall, who were involved in sheep farming in mid-19th-century Australia. …”
You can read more about the Scottish Diaspora by reading the Wikipedia entry at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_diaspora